Institución: Instituto de Psicología, Moscú (1896–1934)

Psicólogo ruso (1896-1934) (Tuberculosis), importante en el campo de pedología
considera que el motor del aprendizaje es el contexto cultural y la interacción social, de postura constructivista y postura interaccionista
La maduración por sí sola no puede producir funciones psicológicas superiores, y por lo tanto require un componente social.

Su teoría recibe el nombre de Constructivismo Social

Introduce los conceptos de:

• Nivel de Desarrollo Real
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Nivel de Desarrollo Potencial

Citas sobre su obra

Chang et al. (2025): «The theoretical foundations of cross-age tutoring are based on Vygotsky's social constructivist theory, which posits that an integral component of child development is reliant on adult-supervised or peer-mediated experiences with social interaction, critical thinking, and problem solving (Vygotsky & Cole, 1978).» (p. 2)

Chang et al. (2025): «Results align with Vygotsky's social constructivist theory and the Zone of Proximal Development (1987), as cross-age tutoring demonstrated positive effects on academic outcomes for both tutors and tutees. As younger tutees engaged in lessons delivered by a more knowledgeable other (Vygotsky, 1987), results indicate that they were successful in developing their learning across both reading and mathematics outcomes.» (p. 15)

Tenhovirta et al. (2022): «The rationale of peer tutoring is often anchored in the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD; Vygotsky, 1978), representing the distance between what a learner (tutee) can do independently and what he/she can do with the help of more knowledgeable others (tutor). Accordingly, it is critical to challenge learners to go beyond their prevailing knowledge and competences and to provide facilitating coaching and support through more knowledgeable and skilful peers and beyond that of teachers.» (p. 1704)